Let’s acknowledge our sins

AT the beginning of every Holy Mass that we celebrate, we are asked to acknowledge our sins “to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.” I have always found this part of the Mass very meaningful, since I believe it is a necessity that we do so.

Without it, we would miss the true significance of the redemptive Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, which the Mass sacramentalizes. We would not be properly disposed to enter into the happy mystery of our salvation.

Actually, I consider that part a good reminder about the reality of our sinfulness and at the same time, the happy reality of the constant love of God for us, he who will do everything to bring us back to him.

Yes, it is a part that reminds us of our proneness to sin because we can get so easily intoxicated by the many good things God endows and blesses us with that we can dare to do things without him. This has happened with our first parents, and continues to happen in the life of each one of us. That is the naked truth about ourselves.

Yet not everything is lost. On the contrary, such misfortune has also brought about a greater blessing from above. “O happy fault,” we sing in the Easter Vigil hymn of the Exsultet, and that is because our sinfulness has brought about a greater blessing from God. Due to our sin, God became man and gave us a way of how to handle the consequences of our sins.

In this regard, we can cite St. Paul’s words as being very relevant. “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” (Rom 5,20) And we can also relish these beautiful words from the Book of Ezekiel: “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?, declares the Lord God. Would I not prefer he turn from his ways and live?” (18,23)

Our sins and everything related to them should not separate us from God. If ever, they should make us all the more eager to go to God, always convinced that forgiveness will always be given as long as we have the proper disposition. God never tires in forgiving us. His love for us is much greater than the gravest offense we can make against him.

Let us always remember that it is definitely a sign of the devil’s wiles and lies when we feel that we should be run away, ashamed and afraid, from God after falling into some sin. When we sin, the first thing to do is to go immediately to God to ask for forgiveness.

Just the same, we have to realize the gravity of our sin and do something about our vulnerability to it. We have to learn how to avoid the occasion of sin, temptations and sin itself. We have to learn how to wage spiritual combat against the enemies of God and of our soul.

But we should try to avoid abusing the goodness and mercy of God. In this regard, we have to form our conscience well so that we would know how to protect and defend ourselves from sin and temptations, how to know and judge our moral acts properly, etc.

Sad to say, we can suspect that there are already quite a number of people and even large portions of societies all the over the world that seem to have lost the sense of sin. And as a consequence, many cases of depression and suicides are now reported. Temptations and sin can only give, at best, temporary and fake pleasures, but they wreck great havoc in the lives of people.

When we are asked to acknowledge our sins at the beginning of the Mass, let us review the whole drama of our sinfulness and the assured mercy of God.